Ray Nance: Body and Soul

Ray Nance recorded Body and Soul, his first album as a leader, in May 1969, almost thirty years after he took over Cootie Williams' trumpet chair in the Duke Ellington orchestra, but only about two years after Billy Strayhorn's death in May 1967, and mere days after Coleman Hawkins' in May 1969. Nance performed "Take the 'A' Train" at Strayhorn's funeral, and "Body and Soul" at Hawk's. Both threnodies are included here as duets with pianist Sir Roland Hanna. Nowhere is Nance's facile virtuosity more beautifully on display, bringing to mind his sublime violin solo on the Ellington band's "Blue Serge" from 1941.

The funeral tributes may be the highlights of the record, but the remainder offers many other delights. In Stanley Dance's engaging original liner notes, Nance reminisces about the schools of violin playing in early jazz, contrasting Eddie South's classicist style with Stuff Smith's wilder swing. An admirer of Smith, Nance nevertheless leaned toward South, as is evident in the delicacy and refinement of his approach on this record. As well as looking back in the history of jazz violin, Body and Soul points forward: the wistful cascading theme of "Jolie Janice" is surely the model for violinist Billy Bang's "The Shift Below," from his Fire From Within (Soul Note, 1984).

Body and Soul features not only Roland Hanna (not yet knighted by the President of Liberia at this time, to the best of my knowledge), but also Jaki Byard. (They don't play on the same cuts.) One of the record's few disappointments is that it squanders the presence of not one but two of the best piano improvisers in post-Ellington jazz. With the exception of Hanna's peerless accompaniment on the funeral duos mentioned above, and some all-too-brief solos by Byard (especially on "She's Funny That Way"), the pianists are kind of lost in the unconventional two-guitarist rhythm section. One of those guitarists is Tiny Grimes (yes, the same Tiny Grimes under whose aegis Charlie Parker made his recording début); the other is Tommy Lucas, and they trade off clean solos that help evoke the classic Django-Grappelli sound.

It is a jazz axiom that Duke's sidemen never achieved, as solo performers, the heights they routinely scaled within the Ellington orchestra. Body and Soul doesn't challenge this conventional wisdom, but its best moments certainly merit inclusion among the finest of the solo efforts of Ellington's collaborators.

I grew up listening to my father's jazz records and listening to the radio. My dad was a musician for many years as a vocalist, bassist and drummer. His two uncles played in the Symphony of Reggio Calabria back in Italy

I grew up listening to my father's jazz records and listening to the radio. My dad was a musician for many years as a vocalist, bassist and drummer. His two uncles played in the Symphony of Reggio Calabria back in Italy. So music and jazz specifically have been a part of me since I was born. I love and perform in all styles of music from around the world. Improvisation in jazz is what drew me in, and still does as well as other genres that feature improvisation. A group of great musicians expressing themselves as one is the hallmark of great jazz and in fact all great music.